


This Was Supposed to be Easy Pt 2

by ravenarc



Series: This Was Supposed to be Easy [2]
Category: Kpop - Fandom, NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-27 01:49:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 18,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14415048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenarc/pseuds/ravenarc
Summary: Dealing with the loss they've suffered is one thing- running from the people they love is another. Who is going to make it out alive? It's them against the world, and the world has turned it's back.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! If you haven't already read my first piece This Was Supposed to be Easy then this is going to make no sense and you need to go read that.
> 
> If you have, continue confidently! Thank you so much for reading, I'm constantly trying to improve my writing and I love having this platform to share work on. You're truly amazing, <333

Taeil throws himself into the front seat so quickly his head hits off the top of the door, but he doesn’t stop. He hears the slam of the back hatch.

  
“GO GO GO HYUNG GO!” Kun yells and Taeil steps on the pedal, sending the van lurching forwards. He doesn’t pull over until they’re very very far away. All the while his brain is screaming at him.

  
_Twelve went in, one came out. Twelve went in, one came out_.

  
He throws a look over his shoulder.

  
“Eyes on the road, hyung.” Jaemin says softly. He still has his arms wrapped around Renjun’s chest and Jisung, Kun and Chenle work to stop the bleeding. Taeil turns around, legs numb. He’s afraid that he won’t be able to feel the gas pedal soon. He keeps driving, abandoning the warehouse, the bleeding people they left behind.

  
The family.

  
They didn’t want to hurt anyone at all, not the first time. They wanted to go in relatively undetected; their superiors had told them the place would be almost completely empty. Pledis gangs were supposed to be attending a conference for ‘the betterment of the company’. Information on big raids being planned, where all the money was going (down the drain if you ask Taeil) and what kind of shit the company expects from its members. Every company hosts them and it’s always the best season for raids. Always.

  
But not today.

  
Taeil’s stomach flips over itself. He’s trying not to think about what must’ve happened, what Jisung must’ve seen to lose everyone.

  
Every single one.

  
He’s failing. His mind, his hands, his legs. He’s seeing it, seeing it all through Jisung’s eyes, it doesn’t matter how hard he tries not to. He imagines Haechan- the youngest to die out there. He doesn’t have to imagine Taeyong. He saw that one.

  
Taeyong was so strong. In a flood of searing pain Taeil can see his leader, his younger brother, run with Jisung and Chenle, always two steps behind to defend them. When they reached the door, all of them, so close to getting out, he remembers the look of panic on his face, but it was mixed with something else.

  
Understanding?

  
Taeyong understood the situation, Taeil knows it now, and he knows that the moment that Tae paused to make sure Renjun was okay was the moment that killed him.  
But he knows that Taeyong doesn’t mind. Not just because he’s dead and he simply can’t mind, Taeil knows that Taeyong knew the cost, and Taeil knows that Taeyong would be at peace with the outcome if he could be.

  
That doesn’t erase the image of his brother’s chest exploding, blood as red as his hair beginning to seep through his clothes and decorate his body. It doesn’t erase Kun’s fearful voice. It doesn’t erase Taeyong’s expression.

  
“ _Then run_.” He had said. Run. Leave him. Run and let him die.

  
The tears are coming from his eyes in a river and Taeil can’t even seen the road anymore. His sobs echo in the back too, but none of the boys say anything about it. They let it happen. It has to of course.

  
So Taeil pulls over. He pulls off the road into some trees, thirty minutes away from the warehouse. He cries into the steering wheel. He’s honestly too scared to turn around. The boys are so quiet, _what if_ -

  
The fear only gets worse but he whips around anyways.

  
“Ren-”

  
“-jun is fine.” Kun is in his face, climbing over the middle console to sit beside him in the passenger seat. “He’s sleeping.” Taeil’s breath is ragged, terrified, broken between his crumbling facade. Kun doesn’t know what to do; Taeil isn’t like this. Usually he’s strong for his brothers, but they’ve never had to deal with a situation like this before, and something in the back of Kun’s mind tells him there’s more pressure on Taeil than any of the rest of them.

  
“Taeil, we need to talk about what our next move is.” Kun’s voice cracks but he ignores it. “We- we can’t go home.” He’s trying to keep his volume low and his speech stable. He glances back to the boys. Jaemin’s arms are wrapped around Renjun and Renjun’s head rests on them. Likewise, Chenle and Jisung are wrapped up together for warmth and comfort. All four are asleep. Pangs of pain and fear jab into Kun’s heart. That’s it. That’s what’s left of them. “We can’t go home.” He repeats. Taeil searches his face for an answer. He can’t find anything.

  
“We-” He looks at his hands, his lap, the back of the van, out the window. No answers there either. “Where the hell can we go?” Kun copies Taeil as he purses his lips.

  
“There’s nowhere.” He says.

  
“There’s nowhere for us.” Taeil echoes. But he looks in the back again. None of those boys are over eighteen. Nobody but Kun ad Taeil can protect them now.  
This buries a resolve in him, something so deep that he’ll never be able to cut it out no matter how sharp the knife. Nothing, nothing, is going to hurt those boys.  
“Forwards.” Taeil’s eyes flit back to Kun, who looks like a deer in headlights. “We go forwards. Thinking logically-” He checks his pockets. “We have no money, no food, but we have weapons and we have each other.” Kun’s brow furrows but Taeil doesn’t care. “We’re a gang, Kun. We hit the nearest gas station. We do what we do best. We defend ourselves.”

  
“How do we operate without the company-”

  
“We’re gonna have to figure that out. But we can do it. We can do it.” He doesn’t look convinced but Taeil is on fire now. “We need to go.” He starts the car again and Kun’s wide eyes don’t leave Taeil’s face, despite his eyes now glued determined on the road.

  
“Drive careful, hyung.” Kun says finally. “The kids are asleep.”

The problem with finding the nearest gas station is that Taeil has no fucking clue where they are and if there even are gas stations nearby. The thought doesn’t occur to him though, and he pushes through the darkness.

  
He made sure to stop talking to Kun an hour ago so that maybe the guy could fall asleep and it worked. Taeil glances at him every few minutes, to check- irrationally- that he’s breathing. He’s only slightly paranoid now.

  
Who the fuck is going to blame him.

  
He adjusts the mirror the way he’s seen Jaehyun do it a hundred times. In it now he can see his younger brothers sleeping. Shock is still weighing down his limbs, but Taeil has willed his head to clear a thousand times over. He takes deep breaths, calming his shaking hands.

  
_The company wants us dead. The company wants us dead._

This is his new mantra, but it doesn’t play in his head out of panic; it plays out of anger. Pure white hot fury that spreads right down from his hair to his finger tips. The company is supposed to protect its people. The gangs are a family. A family. Family doesn’t try to kill you.

  
He pities the gang in the warehouse for no more than two seconds. They didn’t want this either, they didn’t plan on being attacked or raided.

  
But they didn’t have to massacre. They didn’t have to kill children.

  
Taeil squeezes the wheel tighter, still unable to come to terms with the amount of loss too recently shoved down his throat. As he drives, he passes a sign on the side of the road.

  
**10 Miles to rest stop** it reads.

  
Taeil steps on the gas.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to chapter two!

The rocking of the van wakes Chenle two hours after he falls asleep, only to find that the vehicle is stopping. The slamming of car doors jarrs him upright entirely, stirring Jisung beside him.

  
Immediately he’s attentive, smoothing his brother’s hair. As much pain as Chenle is in, he only saw one of his brothers die tonight.

  
Jisung saw them all.

  
He lies back down, hoping that Jisung stays asleep and that the moving of Chenle’s arm- acting as Jisung’s pillow- didn’t completely wake him up. To Chenle’s disappointment, Jisung’s brown eyes stare right back into his. Chenle bites his tongue. He doesn’t know what to say.

  
Just hours ago the two of them were so excited for their first raid. Chenle was even jealous that Jisung got to go all the way. He wanted to come too, he wanted to be in the action. If he had gone, Chenle knows he would have died.

  
He also knows that he shouldn’t say anything about it at all. He doesn’t want to upset Jisung. As much as Chenle wants answers, he wants Jisung to forget about it all. He wishes he could take away everything he witnessed.

  
“There was more blood than I’ve ever seen before.”

  
“Don’t think about it.”

  
“Even if I claw my eyes out the images are still burned in my brain.”

Chenle bites his tongue harder. He draws his hand across the blond’s hair, but it isn’t soft, not all of it. Blood has crusted some of it up. Chenle pulls his hand away slowly, trying not to alarm Jisung, and trying not to vomit. He doesn’t even know who’s it is.

  
“Just don’t think about it, Ji.” He takes Jisung’s hand instead, not any less bloody, but he doesn’t care. It’s not about how he feels.

  
Chenle suddenly remembers why he woke up in the first place.

  
He sits up, and Jisung follows suit. Jaemin’s eyes are open but he keeps his arms around Renjun, relishing his steady breathing.

  
“Is he okay?” Chenle asks him, his voice still a little gravelly from sleep. He’s distracted yet again by something other than the stopping of the van. Jaemin nods, careful not to move too much.

  
“He’s fine for now.” None of the boys want to shift the bed of the vehicle or risk waking Renjun, so they sit in silence. Chenle observes that both Taeil and Kun are missing.  
He fights down the quiet panic, but it’s only seconds later that the doors fly open again.

  
“Hyungs-”

  
Taeil and Kun jump into the front seats, Taeil stepping on the gas immediately. Chenle’s confusion only grows, but with his brothers back in the car, the shock and panic dissipate.

  
They’re not quiet, and Renjun wakes up slowly. He groans in pain, but isn’t out of it like he had been hours ago. He bites his cheek, struggling to even out his breathing.  
He was shot in two places; his left hip and shoulder. Each throb intensely, but he knows that he’ll live, and that he can’t be dramatic. He chokes down another wave of nausea.

  
As well as being in pain, he’s just as confused as the other members. The van lurches from its spot- Renjun doesn’t know where. There are no windows in the back portion of the van, and from down on the bloody floor they can’t see out the front. Chenle is knocked to the floor from his knees with the force of the start.

  
“Sorry-” Taeil grunts roughly from the front. Kun turns around to shove something in the back. Jisung picks it up from the floor. It’s a backpack that the boys are very familiar with. It travels with Kun on every raid, but it’s normal contents are spilled on the bed of the van and it’s bursting at the seams with something else.

  
“Hyung?” Jisung tugs on the zipper. Taeil keeps the vehicle moving at a pace Chenle knows is well past speeding. As the bag pours out onto the floor, Jisung’s eyes grow to the size of moons. Money, like hundreds of dollars, litters the area. “Kun-”

  
“We can’t go home.” Taeil interrupts. “The company is no longer supporting us.” This is all the explanation needed. As unethical as robbing an innocent convenience store is, the younger few know it was necessary.

  
“No one got hurt right?” Jaemin asks. Kun hops over the console into the back, careful not to lose his balance in the speeding van.

  
“Of course not.” He assures. “Gun wasn’t even loaded.” He shows them just to be completely transparent. The boys nod, satisfied. “However-” Kun settles down beside them. “I’m sure they’ve called the cops on us so we need to be careful.” They nod a second time. It’s not the first time they’ve been under the leering eye of the police, but before they had a company to protect them.

  
This time is different.

  
It’s dangerous.

  
Exhilarating.

  
Kun seems to be searching for his next words in the wrinkles of his shirt.

  
“Ji we have a few questions,” He starts slowly. The mood in the van drops further- which Renjun, fading in and out of sleep, didn’t know was possible. Jisung stiffens, eyes locked on the floor. Taeil’s eyes flit anxiously to the mirror to see what’s happening. Kun places a hand on Jisung’s thigh, swallowing, obviously distressed. “We know this is painful- but-” He looks at Chenle and Jaemin for help. Chenle opens his mouth but nothing comes out, thankfully Kun seems to find the words he was looking for. “It’s just, when we made contact-” He pauses only once more. “When we made contact there were more of you.”

  
Plain and simple.

  
When the boys from the warehouse had responded Jaemin had almost vomited with relief, that’s how sick with worry they had been. And more than just two of their brothers were alive then.

  
During the rescue, Taeil and Kun didn’t question the absences. They knew that if everyone was okay, everyone would be there. Only Taeyong and Jisung were present, and so everyone else wasn’t okay. But there was no time to ask why or how, and in the end only one got out.

  
Twelve went in and one came out.

  
The silence in the van is ear splittingly loud, but Jisung takes in a sharp breath. It hurts, but his brothers deserve to know.

  
Taeyong, Yukhei, Mark, Winwin, Jungwoo, Ten, Jaehyun- every single one of them had been there in those moments.

  
“Hyungs were with me,” Jisung starts slowly. “Until the other guys came in too.” He coughs down bile and rising anxiety as the story tumbles from his mouth. “They didn’t explain anything.” His breath hitches. “They just asked for me and Taeyong hyung-” Kun rubs his thigh, willing him to continue but not wanting to know how it ends. “They walked us out- we were in a room all of us together- they walked us out, shut the door, and the people left inside-” He bites his cheek so hard he scares himself. Chenle’s eyes are saucers of disbelief boring into Jisung. “-they shot them. All of them.”

  
Silence. Complete silence.

  
And then Jisung sighs, tired, something heavier than a planet weighing down on his chest. Grief grips his heart tighter than a snake grips a mouse and pain shoots through his whole body.

  
Nothing but silence fills the van and every little wound in their bodies. Silence and numbness.

  
Numbness and agony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took a really long time to update today I'm sorry and I might only be able to churn out one chapter a day for this story as my work load in school is hella heavy rn but I'll remain diligent I promise haha
> 
> Anyways I hope you enjoyed and I hope it's worth reading, thank you <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello sorry for taking so long to update! Thank you for being here, and things are about to get real after this chapter so I hope you stick around. Enjoy!

Taeil leans against the hood of the van. He crosses his legs and stares up into the stars. Out in the middle of nowhere, passed the warehouse, passed the rest stop, passed so many regretful decisions, the boys have pulled over for the night. The highway has been pretty lonely, and Taeil can only remember passing two other vehicles all day.

  
“You’ve been awake for thirty hours straight, hyung.” Kun’s voice doesn’t shock Taeil like you think it would in the darkness. He doesn’t even turn around to watch him come stand beside him. Taeil keeps his eyes on the stars.

  
“Doesn’t matter.” He grumbles. “I’ll see the very same shit whether I’m sleeping or not.” His bitter tone shakes Kun’s bones. He nods.

  
“You’re not wrong.”

  
Taeil smiles in that bittersweet this-isn’t-a-funny-situation-but-I’m-still-amused way and adjusts his stance on the hood. He mumbles his agreeance.

  
There are very few clouds tonight, but the ones that do exist are beautiful wisps of white floating across the black, shielding star after star, passing each by. One puff has the audacity to cover the moon.

  
“What a little _bitch_ -” Taeil says to himself.

  
“What?”

  
“Nothing.”

  
Kun wraps his arms around himself. It’s cold in the night air. The warmth of the sun was stolen hours ago, and fatigue plagues all six of the boys’ limbs, the cold leeching any energy they might’ve had left in them.

  
“If you’re cold you should go inside.” Taeil says softly, eyes still glued to the cloud but it’s long since left the glow of the moon.

  
“I’m not going inside until you are. You need to sleep.”

  
“Kun-”

  
“I’m not moving.”

  
Taeil looks at him this time, and in the moonlight his lashes cast shadows on his skin and Taeil can tell his jaw is clenched against the cold. Even though everyone was taken from him today- yesterday?- Taeil is thankful, so fucking thankful, for Kun. He watches him breathe in the night, chest rising slightly to welcome each breath. He purses his lips. As much as he longs to wander off into the forest on either side of them to clear his head if he doesn’t sleep soon he’ll begin to lose functionality, and who is he to deny Kun rest?

  
“Fine. Inside.” He leads Kun around the back, and his younger brother is happy to follow, his tired mind excited to sleep. Taeil opens the door to the ass of the van as gently as possible, but only Renjun is asleep when he climbs inside.

  
“He’s still, like, alive, right?” Taeil says while he lends Kun his hand to help pull him in the vehicle.

  
“I think so.” Jaemin leans over, waiting for a breath or some other cue. He must’ve heard something. “Yeah he’s fine.” He sits back down with Chenle and Jisung. The three of them had been talking.

  
Taeil thinks about telling them to rest, but he knows that the last thing they need right now is something bothering them.

  
“It’s late.” Is all he says as he clicks the light to darken the van. It occurs to him for a second that having that on would be draining the car battery, but on a brain running on no sleep the consequences don’t dawn on him.

  
The boys get the memo, however, and to Taeil’s relief they adjust themselves to slightly more comfortable positions- as comfortable as one can be in the back of a van.

  
“Hyung?” Jaemin says in the darkness. Taeil responds with a grunt. “We’re going to need to buy some water or something soon. Just a thought.” Taeil almost laughs. He really does need sleep, because basic human needs- like water- have slipped his mind.

  
“We’ll get some tomorrow.” Kun says. “I’m sorry we didn’t think about it earlier.” Kun genuinely feels like he failed his first day as main caregiver. He sits up. “Are you guys okay?” He realizes they haven’t even had the chance to ask that basic question. “Like, we haven’t fed you or-”

  
“We’re fine hyung.” Chenle says. Kun watches his little body shift on the floor to face his direction. Jisung’s eyes beside him glint in the darkness. “You and Taeil need sleep especially right now. We’ll all be fine until tomorrow.”

  
“Lele is right,” Jaemin says. “Relax, we’ll sort out food and water tomorrow.”

  
The truth is, none of them are hungry.

  
Not really.

  
The current circumstances don’t demand them to be, not with how sick, broken and tired they feel. Food is an afterthought.

  
The body only knows one formula for survival; food, water and sleep. No matter what happens around a person, that’s all their body cares about. But the brain takes in all the factors. The brain forgets about the fundamentals because a person finds himself running from those who are bloodthirsty, those who are dead and those who want them dead. The brain forgets the body is hungry when there’s been thirty hours of stress and trauma.

  
They drift off one by one, until Jisung is the only one still awake. Before he falls away completely, he wonders if the events that occurred even truly happened. He thinks that maybe when he wakes up in a few hours that Johnny and Haechan will be there to annoy him, or maybe Jeno to brighten his day with a smile, or Taeyong to lead them on another adventure.

  
He falls asleep with the happy thought filling his weary mind.

Taeil makes the conscious decision that the party should rejoin society when he wakes up. He steps gingerly around his members. Taeil stops in front of Renjun, who he hasn’t said a direct sentence to since the beginning of the ‘rescue’. He stoops in front of his younger brother, swallowing, sweeping the dark hair off his forehead, checking his temperature, checking the crude bandages. Renjun’s soft breathing mixed with the other members’ in slumber is comforting, and Taeil swings across the console to take his place in the front seat, starting the van.

  
“To the nearest city.” He mumbles to himself. They have money now for gas and McDonald’s, he decides, but scarier thoughts than where their next meal is coming from plague him.

  
There’s danger in entering any city, especially one that they don’t know very well. Taeil has no idea which gangs and mafias will have run and power, and the unknown is what kills. The only thing he can be certain of is that SM won’t be; they left behind their hometown hours ago.

  
Which Taeil supposes is a positive, because if they went back now, someone would kill them where they stand. Why? They might never know the answer.

  
He huffs a huge sigh, looking for any road signs while he drives for cues as to who he might have to run into. What would be really nice would be if the town were gang free entirely. That would be fantastic. That would be safe and his boys could eat and stretch their legs and gather their thoughts and Renjun could even get to a hospital. That would be good.

  
Kun stirrs after only fifteen minutes of driving despite how careful Taeil had been to avoid potholes.

  
“Morning.” He grumbles, stumbling into the passenger seat.

  
“We really should put benches back there.” Taeil says absently. Pangs of pain drive into his chest as he remembers who he said those words to the first time. Jeno had been smiling back at him.

  
“Mhmm.” Kun nods, but doesn’t say much else. The two of them drive in silence until Taeil spots the first sign.

  
“SHIT Kun what’d that say?”

  
“Maryland?”

  
“Maryland-” Taeil echoes. “Who-”

  
“Lives there?” Kun bites his lip, racking his brain. He thinks the same thoughts as Taeil, and realization begins to fill him from the bottom up. “Is that Y-” He pauses.

  
“What, Kun spit it out I have no idea-”

  
“It’s YG. YG.”

  
Taeil almost stops the van. He almost turns it right around.

  
“No… Are you sure?”

  
“100% hyung-”

  
“We’re so fucking screwed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You made it through another shitty chapter with me I applaud you (and thank you a thousand times over). More will come soon! I also want to say the city Maryland isn't any real existing Maryland and this book takes place in no specific country or anything idk it just kind of exists sorry <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone's been watching them.

“Hyung I told you like thirty times yes, yes it’s YG territory. But it’s fine-”

  
“What about that makes it fine?” Taeil is still driving, but the clock is ticking down until they’ll enter the city, the boys are still asleep and Taeil has no gameplan. “You know they know who we are and they do not like us.”

Kun scoffs.

  
“They don’t like Tae. They don’t like Johnny either. Neither of which are with us right now.” He snaps. Taeil opens his mouth, eyes wide and on fire but Kun isn’t finished.

“They have no fucking idea who we are. Think about it.” The anger in Taeil’s blood calms for a moment. He thinks about it thoroughly.

  
It’s true. Hanbin and Jiyong, two leaders of quite powerful YG family groups, hated Tae. But they hardly knew anyone else. The boys in the van are boys who were always in the van, so exposure to other gangs and groups didn’t happen much for Kun or Taeil, and the rest were too young to go out either way. Maybe they wouldn’t be able to tell.

  
But somehow people can always tell. There’s a way you walk, or smell, or an airy tone to your voice that gives you away. An accent or a look that lets people know who you belong to. Taeil is terrified the wolves will hunt them down in YG’s streets.

  
“Relax, Taeil. For the kids at least. What, we gas up? Get some food, then get the fuck out if you don’t want to stay. It’ll be fine.” He can hear the boys waking up behind them, and in front of them a cityscape comes into view. Tall buildings and intricate roads lie five hundred feet ahead of them, and the closer they get to the concrete jungle the more terrified Taeil grows. The _robbery_ was less nerve wracking.

  
They draw closer and Chenle wraps his arms around Kun’s shoulders, resting his cheek on his collarbone. He reads a sign.

  
“Maryland huh?”

  
“The hell do you know about Maryland?”

  
“I know Taeyong says to avoid it.” He pulls away. “Why are we here?” Taeil squeezes the wheel until his knuckles turn white. They begin to pass buildings, entering the city for real now.

  
“For food, kiddo. Don’t worry about it, huh? The city is just a city.” Kun hops in the back, kneeling beside Renjun. “Taeil are we going to have to get out or-”

  
“I’ll get out. Just me.”

  
Kun’s brows knit together. He dislikes that plan with his entire being.

  
“Take Chenle with you.” Chenle nods and before Taeil can shoot back with a no Kun follows up with reason. “Kids aren’t scary-”

  
“I’m not a kid-”

  
“-and if someone bad does recognize you they’ll be slower to attack one. It could save your ass if something goes wrong.” Kun takes Renjun’s pulse, but he’s beginning to wake up himself.

  
“I’m fine hyung.” He tries to wave him off with his eyes still closed. His entire body aches and when he tries to move, pain immobilizes him.

  
“Sure you are.” To Taeil Kun reiterizes. “It’s McDonald’s and gas hyung what _gang_ is patrolling _McDonald’s_.” He drags out the name of the restaurant just to make his point. He’s right too, because no one with any sense in their mind would wander into a fast food place looking for a fight with people they didn’t even know were in the city. Taeil swallows, saying nothing positive, but not saying no either. When they come across a McDonald’s, Taeil pulls into the parking lot, pulling into a free space. There are quite a few of them littering the lot, and Taeil is both elated and deflated by the fact. The less people around to spot them, the easier it is to be spotted.

  
“Okay Chenle with me.” He says, and hops out of the van after taking a small amount of cash from the bag. It occurs to him briefly that maybe he should worry about their health more and that McDonald’s is not going to nourish them but they can’t be picky, not here, not now.

  
Guess he’ll just have to feed them nuggets.

  
Chenle hops out of the passenger side after clambering over the console like a normal person, avoiding opening the back of the vehicle to risk drawing attention. Kun avoids saying anything like ‘don’t take too long’ to make Taeil’s anxieties worse. He realizes that he’s more level headed, and probably should be the one going out in the city.

He decides he’ll pump the gas when the time comes.

  
Chenle scurries to Taeil’s side but stays quiet as they cross the parking lot. He takes note of how few people there are around, and how tall the buildings reach. They stretch storey upon storey high, almost disappearing into the grey clouds.

  
That’s an exaggeration, but you get his point.

  
He opens the door for his hyung, holding it for him to pass through. He waits a few seconds for a girl with red hair to pass through as well and she smiles at him sweetly.

  
“Thank you.” She says. What accent is that? Australia? New Zealand? He smiles back, genuinely pleased that he’s done something positive as small as it might’ve been. It’s also been a very long time since he’s seen a female up close, and her features are very nice. He admires her respectfully, and then follows her inside. Taeil is waiting.

  
Taeil pats his younger brother’s back, then keeps his hand there protectively. The two of them join the lineup behind a tall man and the red haired girl. He tries to think of mundane conversation starters, but can’t seem to find any good words to share with Chenle.

  
It’s not that he doesn’t know how to talk to Chenle, every member had always been close with each other, but what is there to talk about in the restaurant? He can’t exactly say; ‘ _hey, sorry our brothers died. Where do you think the hospital is so we can make sure Renjun doesn’t see the same fate_?’

  
Definitely not casual conversation.

  
The phone rings of the girl in front of them and she picks it up.

  
“How are you feeling?” Taeil tries. Chenle cocks his head to the right and immediately starts fiddling with his jacket. It’s then that he realizes some of Renjun’s blood decorates it. Taeil notices at the same time, eyes widening. None of them have changes of clothing either and even that thought hadn’t occurred to him.

  
“-there’s a bathroom here, Jen.” The red haired girl says. She hangs up, tucking her phone back in her pocket.

  
Taeil’s eyes flit around the restaurant as he tries to keep Chenle’s front from anyone’s view. The door to the building opens behind them and another girl enters. She walks towards the girl in line. Her brown eyes look Taeil up and down as she greets her friend, and then she pulls away, walking towards the bathrooms.

  
Taeil is genuinely shocked by her boldness, but quickly shakes it off, glancing down at Chenle trying to wipe the crimson off.

  
“Is it working?” He looks around again, keeping his tone hushed. The first person in line is done ordering and it’s the girl with the red hair’s turn. Taeil and Chenle sidestep forwards to keep up with the line.

  
“No-”

  
“Go, washroom, now, wash it or wipe it-”

  
“Got it hyung.” Chenle ducks out of line, making a beeline across the restaurant. Taeil takes in a frustrated breath, clenching his jaw. The tension in all of his muscles only gets worse.

  
The girl places her order, four black coffees, and steps out of the way with her number. Taeil’s heart beats faster as he approaches the counter.

  
“Morning sir,” The teen at the cash says.

  
“M-morning.” Taeil stutters back. He places an order, pays the money and takes his number; 231. He steps back in the same manner the red head did, and eyes the screen displaying the numbers. His shows up on the ‘in progress’ side.

  
“Taeil.” He freezes. The voice is not Chenle’s.

  
It’s not Kun’s.

  
It’s not Jaemin’s.

  
It’s not Jisung’s.

  
It’s not even Rejun’s.

  
When he turns slowly, the girl with the red hair is standing beside him, eyes on the screen. He questions whether he even heard someone in the first place, but before he turns back, she speaks.

  
“You’re going to leave the building with me,” She drawls, eyes never leaving the monitor. “Or the kid gets hurt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *dramatic music*


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hella short chapter loves but I'm writing another one I'll be posting today so I hope that's okay.

His breath hitches in his throat. Chenle isn’t back from the bathroom yet. He couldn’t possibly-

  
“You must be mistaken.” He says smoothly, turning towards her. “Who am I speaking to?” The girl finally turns her head to flash her brown eyes at him.

  
“ _God_.” The boy at the cash brings her coffees to the counter, and she goes to get them. Taeil honestly doesn’t know what to do. He looks at the other patrons, but none of them are paying them any mind. She spins around, raising her eyebrows tauntingly. “Come.” She mouths.

  
Taeil feels that he has no choice. He knows that her friend was in the washrooms too. He shouldn’t have told Chenle to go. He shouldn’t have let his guard down. He shouldn’t have underestimated the danger. And;

  
How the hell does she know his name?

  
Taeil clears his throat awkwardly, then follows her after a few delayed seconds out a different door than they came in. He keeps the order number with him.

  
His unease only grows worse when he realizes that the door leads to the back of the restaurant, out of the view of anyone really, but most importantly Kun and the kids in the van. Taeil isn’t scared though, not yet. He’s a part of a dangerous gang, he’s seen some shit, he knows how to fight, (his gun is tucked in his waistband), what the hell can the little red haired girl to him? And he’s angry too. If they’ve touched a fucking hair on Chenle’s head he’ll shoot them both.

  
Through the door, the air is colder than Taeil remembers it was when they entered the building and a shiver shoots down his spine. His hand rests just over the pistol, ready, as he follows her around the corner.

  
They’re in the back with dumpsters and garbage bags and the smell is intense. Taeil is silently thankful that it’s not a warm day lest everything become much riper. Two girls stand next to one of the dumpsters, and the red haired girl turns around to look at Taeil. He recognizes one of the other girls from only minutes before, but the third pretty face is a mystery.

  
Chenle is nowhere in sight.

  
“Where’s the kid.” He doesn’t wait for them to start talking. He is going to be taking absolutely no shit today. “Who the fuck are you, and why am I here.” The eyes of the third girl wander over him.

  
“Did you see us take him out here?” The red head scoffs. He did not. Something close to embarrassment washes over him as he realizes Chenle is probably still in the restaurant, confused as hell. Fuck. He assumed because he missed the second girl leaving entirely that maybe the threat wasn’t complete bullshit. “Wasn’t very hard to just tell you we had him,” She laughs with the other girls. “I don’t blame you though- I’d have come too if it was my brother.”

  
“The fuck do you know about us-”

  
“Hush, Taeil,” Her voice lilts on his name, and it’s a sound Taeil doesn’t like. His name feels foreign in her mouth, and it sounds like she likes to say it too much. “Let’s get to the point.” The third girl Taeil doesn’t recognize pulls her gun so quickly Taeil has no time to react except to think ‘ _where on earth was she keeping that thing?_ ’. As ready as he thought he had been, she gestures for him to put his hands up, and he has no other choice.

  
Double fuck.

  
“Against the wall.” The girl with the gun says. Taeil rolls his eyes, backing up. He places his back flat against the building.

  
“Are you YG’s girls?” He hisses. The girl with the gun presses it into his forehead, eyes flashing fire.

  
“We’re nobody’s girls.” She snaps. Taeil knows she doesn’t have a silencer on the end of it, but in this city he doesn’t know if it’ll matter. Do the police respond to gunshots here? They didn’t in SM territory, not with the amount of gangs roaming those streets, and later in their career the boys stopped using silencers at all. The threat she’s making wordlessly is very possibly something she’s willing to follow through with.

  
“Who are you then?” He knows it’s dangerous to talk but he needs to stall. His own gun screams against his skin, wanting to be pulled so badly.

  
“The real question is who are you, but we know the answer.” The girl with the red hair steps forwards. “You’re company is searching everywhere for you. Why don’t you go home?” She’s teasing him, but something else sends a second chill down his spine. The company is looking for them? The girl with the gun presses harder, forcing the back of his head to meet the wall less than painlessly.

“They’ve set out a hefty sum.” She says simply. “If we can bring you in we won’t even need our company for support.”

  
“They’re lying to you. They tried to kill us, they don’t want us at all.” He speaks through teeth grit together angrily. Hatred burns in his stomach.

  
“ _Alive_.” The girl in front of him is so close he can feel the heat of her breath. “They’ll pay more if you’re corpses.” The third chill of the morning trickles through his bones. His hand is so close to his pistol. Just a few more inches.

  
“Too bad you have only one of us then.” He says. “I’m not worth much on my own I imagine.” At this very moment the red haired girl’s phone rings.

  
How many friends does this bitch have?

  
“We have him.” She says into it. _No_. “Why? It’s easier to transport corp- Mmhmm. Don’t just- Okay we’ll leave him here and come back then. On our way.” His hand is on the gun now through two layers of clothing. The red head hangs up and eyes him. He can’t get the gun out with her eyes on him like that.

  
“Well, Rosé?” The last girl, who Taeil almost forgot about, says to the girl with fire for hair.

  
“Shoot him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOF


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ik the chapters aren't exceptional right now I'll have time to write better content tomorrow but anyways thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

“What on earth is taking them so long?” Jaemin looks to Kun anxiously, but Kun shakes his head in an effort to comfort him.

  
“It’s fine, Na, the line could just be long.”

  
“There’s hardly anyone in there.” Jisung pokes holes in Kun’s ideas.

  
“Ice cream machine is broke then, it always is.”

  
“What if they aren’t getting ice cream?”

  
Kun sighs exasperated.

  
“Four more minutes. Can you guys wait four more minutes?”

  
Renjun has tried to fight down the pain and nausea that’s been rising up in him for hours but it’s getting harder with every breath. He hasn’t reached out to any of his members, he hasn’t said a thing and now, his jaw clenched so tightly in an attempt to destroy any sound, he doesn’t know if he can.

  
Jisung seems to notice it first; his ragged breathing, terror in his eyes, how absolutely agonized he looks.

  
“Renjun-”

  
“I’m going to vomit.”

  
Jaemin acts instantly, throwing open the back door so swiftly it sounds like a gunshot and Kun and Jisung pull Renjun out quickly.

  
He throws up quite promptly.

  
He falls back against the car, exhausted. There wasn’t much in his stomach at all to heave out, but he’s aggravated his wounds now and they’ve begun to bleed again.  
“There, there.” Kun comforts him, pressing more gauze from Jisung’s med pack against his body. The positive of literally no one being around means that there’s no one to see four bloody, distressed children panic very quietly.

  
“I’m sorry.” He gasps, managing to force the two words from between his lips.

  
“It’s okay it’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Jaemin pats his hair, eager to put him back in the van, out of sight, out of danger. Renjun leans his head back against the vehicle, closing his eyes tight, still gasping for breath. Kun steps aside to allow Jisung a good look, as he’s the only medic left now.

  
“It’s not good.” He says to Kun and Jaemin in hushed tones. “It’s really not good.”

  
“Does he need a hospital?” Kun takes in a deep breath, clenching his teeth.

  
“That or a coffin.”

  
Jaemin hits Jisung- not in an abusive manner- but the boy hardly flinches. His humor has never been this dark or dry.

  
“You can’t just say _shit_ like that Ji-”

  
Kun looks around in a fit of distress, only to spot three young girls walking out from behind the drive thru at the restaurant. There’s a fourth who meets them as they come, and Kun swears he can see a flash of metal belonging to a gun with the slight raise of the lower bit of her shirt in the wind. Immediately the fabric falls back into place, but Kun saw it just the same. The four of them seem to move in their direction.

  
“Shit-” He turns back to the younger three. “Get Renjun in the van _now_.” Jaemin shoots a look over in the direction Kun had just been facing. He gets the memo.

  
“Help me Ji.” The two of them clamber back in, and Kun debates whether or not to follow them, but the girls are too close now. Instead, he shoves the wide door shut behind them.

  
The girls approach milliseconds after.

  
“Is your friend okay?” One of them with red hair speaks up first and Kun rotates slowly to face her. He locked his weaponry in the van when he closed the door. “Was he vomiting?” She eyes the small puddle of whatever the fuck came out of the teen on the pavement. Kun shakes his head.

  
“He’s drunk.” He lies, pretending to be unimpressed. “But he’s fine.” He wants them to walk away. He wants Taeil to walk out of the restaurant. He wants Chenle to follow. He wants some damn chicken nuggets.

  
“Do you want some help with him?” _I want you to fucking leave._

  
“No no we’re fine we were just waiting on our friend-”

  
“Taeil?”

  
Kun freezes. _What did they just say?_

  
“Pardon me?”

  
“Taeil.” The girl with red hair smiles but it isn’t sweet. “And you must be Kun. You and your boys are worth quite a few dollars my friend.” Kun’s palms grow sweaty instantly. How? How the hell does she know?

  
Taeil was right. Taeil was so right. Kun should’ve let him turn the car around. Kun shouldn’t have been so fucking stupid.

  
Of course people knew who they were, and if the company really wanted them dead for good reason they would stop at nothing-

  
Kun has no weapon. Taeil and Chenle are still out of sight.

  
“Taeil is dead.” The words fall from her lips like venom. “The other one will be too. I suggest if you want him to live you’ll co-operate.” Taeil is dead.

  
_Taeil is dead_.

  
Not another one.

  
The flood of anguish is immense, but Kun hardly has any time to process the words completely.

  
“No-” He’s cut off by a bullet connecting with the door of the van inches from his head. He jumps and so do the girls.

  
“What the fuck-” The four of them spin around, pulling rifles of their own, but they’re peppered with a spray of bullets and Kun hardly has time to throw himself behind the van, praying that none of the bullets fly through the material to hit the boys inside.

  
“Jisoo you didn’t kill him?” He hears the redhead cry as they begin to fire back.

  
“I assumed he’d just bleed out-”

  
He’s surprised to hear them fight even amongst the fray, but knows exactly who they’re speaking of. Relief and newfound fear flood him simultaneously. Taeil could need help.

  
Kun runs up to the passenger seat, throwing the door open and grabbing the rifle from under the seat.

  
“Hyung-”

  
“Later.” He says urgently. Kun jumps around to the other side, able to see Taeil aiming and firing at each individual. They fire back, but caught off guard their aim is poor.  
They’re drawing attention now.

  
Staff and even passersby run and scream, terrified of the bullets. Kun feels awful, but they're not his people to protect. Cops will show up soon, he knows it, and he wants to be long gone before they do.

  
Taeil is walking steadily towards them, and between Kun’s bullets and his own, he’s forced the four girls away from the car. Kun sees now that he’s stumbling, holding his stomach with a crimson hand.

  
Oh god-

  
“Taeil,” He calls as if that’ll make him come faster. He shoots more at the girls feet, trying to get them even further away. Taeil is finally close enough for Kun to grab.  
He pulls his arm around his shoulder, drags him around the front of the car, and chucks him in the passenger’s seat. A bullet whizzes past Kun’s ear as he runs back to the driver’s side, but he tries to ignore the chaos.

  
Get out get out get out.

  
He throws the door open, hopping inside less than gracefully.

  
“Kun-”

  
“I know.” He struggles with the keys, slipping in clammy hands. It takes three tries but he’s started the engine. Away. They have to get away. The gas is nearly empty but they have to get away.

  
“KUN!” Jaemin’s voice is shrill and panicked as Kun pulls out of the parking spot, silently hoping and dreading that he might run one of the girls down.

“What? What the hell could be THAT important right now Na-”

  
“Where the fuck is Chenle?”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I genuinely feel so bad that this is all I have to give you today and that it's ten minutes till tomorrow and this is the first I've update today, and it's absolute shit genuinely just a filler chapter however tomorrow is Saturday and I can write better things all day so please stay tuned and bear with me

“It’s a scratch.” Taeil presses on his own minor wound. “Less than a foot away from me and her aim still sucked.” To Kun’s relief, his brother is 100% fine.

“They thought they killed you.”

“Bitches thought wrong.”

Jisung and Jaemin exchange wild glances. Their older brothers have failed to mention the fact that Chenle isn’t with them. Renjun is asleep again.

 

“Hyungs what about-”

“If Chenle was still inside, Jaemin, the girls have him.” Taeil cuts him off. “Which means we have to be smart if we want him back.” In the fight, the boys were forced to leave the restaurant completely. Foodless, down a brother and thirty bucks.

But they don’t seem too concerned, and as detached as Jisung has been, without Chenle he can feel himself slipping further.

“What the hell do you mean by that?” He snaps. “How are we going to find him? We don’t even know who those girls are-”

“I agree.” Jaemin adds. “Hyungs they tried to kill us- they blatantly shot you Taeil! Why wouldn’t they do that to Chenle.”

There’s silence in the van.

“Because he’s a kid.” Taeil’s voice comes out with a crack in it. “We have to trust they won’t hurt a kid.”

“They were shooting near us-”

“They were shooting at me. And Kun. You guys were out of sight.” He grunts. “And I shot first.”

“To be fair they actually shot _you_ first-”

“Why are we having this argument?” Jisung’s hands are shaking. “How on earth is this going to help us?”

 

Chenle looks at himself in the mirror of the restroom. The kid staring back at him is almost unrecognizable.

When he joined up with the company at the very beginning, thirteen year old Chenle had been trying to prove something. He had been trying to prove he was tough, that he was enough, that he was strong. The innocence his brothers used to tease him about made him angry, he thought it was a bad thing.

But it’s gone now, he can see it’s been burned away. He’s seen too much, he’s hungry, he’s looked death in it’s jaws.

He wants the innocence back.

Chenle turns on the tap hurriedly, wetting his hands which in turn wet his jacket. He tries desperately to remove the dark red staining him. The harder he works, the redder the water becomes, but the stain only seems to darken. He moves like a madman, getting more water, adding soap, but to no avail. He stops, watching the last of the crimson go down the drain. His clothes are wet, hardly any less bloody and his hands are cold. He purses his lips, looking back up into the mirror.

Nope. Still nothing.

He sighs heavily, not surprised, and makes his way to the door dejectedly. He pulls it open, struggling against the weight of it like small people do, but the further he pulls it open, the more quickly he realizes something is very wrong.

The people in the restaurant are panicked, the staff rush around and people hide under tables, but the biggest red flag are the gunshots.

“ _fuck_.”

He doesn’t know whether he should go back inside the bathroom to wait it out or face the fight. He knows it must have to do with his brothers. He chooses the latter.  
Chenle thrusts himself out of the safety of the stalls and laminate and into the middle of the restaurant. He looks around, trying to get a good view through the shattering windows. He can see Kun, Taeil, and the red haired girl.

“But she was so nice-” He complains to himself.

“Kid!” Someone calls him from behind, and Chenle turns around to find the owner of the voice. “Kid-” He doesn’t have to find him as a man grabs his wrist, pulling him back where Chenle came, towards the safety of a solid wall. Once around the corner, Chenle rips his wrist away. “Calm down.” The man says, throwing his hands back in surrender. “Get yourself shot then.” Chenle frowns, staring him in the eyes.

“I know you.” He says, taking a step back.

“You do not. You don’t even see me.” Chenle’s frown deepens even further, but he can’t place from where exactly the man is familiar, and he’s not going to get an answer out of him. Another spray of bullets followed by even more screams pierces the awkward silence and Chenle itches to run out there. “Don’t even think about it.” Says the man, reading his thoughts, but it’s not a threat, just pure angry advisement.

“I know them it’s okay-” He sticks his head out, checking the fight.

The van is pulling away.

The man sticks his head out to see too. Then he laughs.

“They must not like you.” Together they watch Chenle’s brothers flee under heavy gunfire. Chenle feels like a string is attaching him and the van, and the further away it gets the more he unravels. How could they leave him?

He takes back the thought instantly. That was selfish. They had to go; they were being _shot_ at. He shakes his head, trying to fight the mixture of feelings rising up in him. They had no choice. They’ll come back for him.

People are beginning to stand up from their cowering on the floor. More phones are being pulled out, police being called. The girls outside are arguing with each other, until one looks through the window, making eye contact with Chenle.

“Oh shit-” The teen averts his eyes quickly, then jumps back to hide himself from view.

“You should watch your language kid.” Chenle pushes past him, heading into the men’s room. He knows that the girls saw him, and he knows that whatever reason they had to shoot at Kun they might drag onto him.

The man follows him in.

“What are you doing?”

Chenle shoots him an exasperated look.  
“I’m trying to survive. What are you doing? You’re going to look like a perv.”

“I don't like what you’re implying at all.”

“Then why’d you follow me in here.” Chenle looks around, catching his own eye in the reflection for the third time. He looks away instantly, still afraid of who he sees. He spots a window high up in the wall, but he knows that’s the only alternate way out. He shouldn’t have backed himself into a corner in the first place, but he can’t go back out into the open now. He looks at the man. Might as well use him while he's here.  
“Make yourself useful.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like literally I'm apologizing because this chapter is awful thank you for reading it I will put forth much better content in the future I'm sorry


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a wild chapter but I finally finished it, and have updated officially today yayyy. More fun things to come~

“At your service kiddo.”  
Chenle hates him. He hates his manner and the way he so casually pretends to know him and how the man is unphased by everything around him. He’s obviously part of something if the gunfire didn’t scare him, which only causes Chenle’s unease to grow. But regardless, as long as the man is pretending to be helpful Chenle might as well use him.

“Do you have a cell on you?” He asks. Again, Chenle really wishes he had been smarter and not barricaded himself with no means of escape. He can’t even tell if the girls are in the restaurant, outside of it, what they’re doing or even what the rest of them look like, because only the girl with red hair smiled at him. The man nods.

“I’ve gone over my data though-”

Chenle holds out his hand and the man hands it over anyways. Chenle doesn’t have time to think about how peculiar the man is acting. He calls up the number pad and dials Kun’s cell.

This is a gamble. Kun could’ve left it at home, and the phone would ring and ring and no one would answer and Chenle would have no way to contact his brothers and then he’d be even further fucked than he currently is. OR, Kun could’ve brought it on the raid, but who brings their cellphone on a raid? Chenle is hopeful, because the latter is going to work much better for him than the first option.

His right leg bounces uncontrollably as he pulls the phone up to his ear. The man watches in silence, and Chenle wishes he wouldn’t stare at him so intently. The phone begins to ring.

And ring.

And ring.

“Come on-” Chenle squeezes his eyes shut. He can hear the commotion from outside, the aftermath of a gun battle, but still the cops haven’t shown up yet; he’d hear their sirens outside the window. If Kun doesn’t pick up, Chenle could try to wait for the cops. The girls would’ve run off to avoid them, and even if they didn’t with police around they wouldn’t be able to touch him.

But then Chenle would have to explain who he is and why he’s here. That’s a huge no, and he’s never been a very good liar. That was always Haechan’s specialty.

The thought of his brother shoots agony through his chest.

“ _Hello_?”

Chenle’s eyes widen so quickly the man is afraid they’ll bug right out of his head. He takes in a sharp breath.

“Hyung where the hell are you?”

“ _Chenle_?” But Chenle freezes. That voice is not Kun’s. “ _Long time no see, little one. Where might you and the boys be_?” The voice is one Chenle knows really well, but the tone it’s taken on now is not one of love or concern;  
It’s malice.

“Suho-hyung?” Chenle can’t help the tremor in his voice, cascading down his limbs.

“ _That’s right. Why haven’t you come home_?”

If someone were to look at these questions written out on paper, they’d appear harmless, full of worry, but that’s because you can’t hear him say it. You can’t hear Chenle’s heart break as he realizes that not only the company heads but even people he used to love and trust are ransacking his home, answering Kun’s phone and laughing at his pain.

So Kun left the phone at home.

And there are people,  
In their home.

“ _Not who you wanted am I_?” Suho says when Chenle is silent. He can hear the voices of others in the background, unable to pick out specific people, but knowing who they are regardless.

“Hyung-” Chenle begins.

“ _There’s nothing we can do to protect you guys. Whoever remains, Chenle, needs to turn themselves in. The company is going to stop at nothing_.”

“Why-” The question hangs in their air. “What did we do?” Why can’t they help them. Why won’t the company leave them alone-  
Why’d they kill them in the first place.

“ _Money, love. That’s the business. We brought you in for money, we’ll take you out for money._ ” Suho is stalling, and then Chenle hears someone in the background say something that makes his blood run cold.

“ _Trace the call_.”

He hangs up. He made a mistake. He has no answers, couldn’t contact Kun, and now they can find him.

“FUCK-” He yells, echoing in the bathroom. The nameless man pushes himself off the wall where he had been leaning, intently watching.

“I’m assuming you didn’t reach who you wanted.” He says, airy tone only making the situation worse.

“I didn’t. I have to get out _now_ , there are worse people after me because of that phone call-”

“You really fucked up then.” Chenle rolls his eyes again.

He looks around the room desperately, scanning the window again, avoiding the man’s eyes and his statement. It’s the only alternate exit. He approaches the wall, steps on a urinal (cringes), and hoists himself up.

“Where-” The man is confused for only a moment, and then groans. “I don't think I can fit through there.” Chenle opens the window and pushes the screen out, then begins to wriggle through.

“You don’t have to come.”

“I want to.”

“Then walk out the front door, no one wants to kill _you_.” Why the man Chenle doesn’t even know wants to follow him out a window into danger is beyond him, but it dawns on Chenle maybe a little too late who he might be. He knows he recognizes him.

Seunghyun. Better know as TOP in the gang world and completely psychotic. The realization trickles down his spine like ice water, beginning to paralyze him. How could he have missed this in the very beginning? Too caught up in the other events? In his brothers leaving him? Chenle forces himself to avoid picking up the pace. TOP is 100% YG company blood, and the only reason Chenle isn’t dead yet is because he doesn’t know he knows who he is. All his weird mannerisms and antics make sense now. Chenle should’ve known.

He’s been playing him the whole time. TOP knows who Chenle is for sure, and Chenle now knows he won’t be able to get away if he shows he’s beginning to panic. He needs to figure something out now.

“Shit- I think I’m stuck.” He lies, stopping his work. Truth is, he is the opposite of stuck, but if he hops out the window now, TOP can follow and end him quite quickly. He probably _wants_ him outside; can’t exactly drag a body through McDonalds, but he can shoot him or stab him or do whatever easily in the back of a restaurant.

  
“Do you need help?” The tall man begins to move towards him. Chenle bites his cheek to force the terror down. He’s heard this man do awful things.

“Yeah, come on my left side, I just need a push-” He feels him move behind him, until he’s between Chenle’s body and the wall to his left. Once in place, Chenle knows he only has one shot.

Seunghyun grabs his leg, beginning to hoist him up and out, and Chenle braces for the right moment.  
When he’s on the window sill, right knee in place, he kicks backwards as hard as he can without warning.  
His left foot connects with TOP’s face, and then his head connects with the wall.

The sound is absolutely sickening, and the scream is even worse. Blood gushes from many different places on his head, and Chenle looks back for only a second in fear as the man slumps down the wall. He knows he’s broken his nose at least, and that the trauma to his face and head will not be easily healed.

With the opportunity he’s created, he hops from the window, connects with the pavement painfully, rolling twice to try to cushion the fall, and then he stands. He needs to run,  
But where the hell does he go?

The thing is, Chenle had no idea that SM put out a reward at all, it was purely instinct that drove him to debilitate his enemy, and good one at that.

Seunghyun knew who he was. He had gotten the message from the company two hours ago, and the fact that his little sisters had spotted them- well it was perfect. Thousands of dollars each body would be.  
Seunghyun loves jobs like that.

So he’s shocked when the foot of the child he thought was unsuspecting hits him so hard in the face that he reels backwards, head then smacking against the wall so loudly it vibrates in his bones. He blacks out instantly.

Chenle begins to sprint out of the parking lot, the cops still haven’t shown up- shit first responders they are- and he thinks that maybe they aren't coming at all.

Good and bad.

The four girls never came inside, instead, they’re congregated near the front door, thirty feet away from the window Chenle just jumped out of. He picks up his pace as they notice him.

 _Fuck_.

They move in unison, beginning slowly and then very quickly holding nothing back as they run.

I’m not worth it. I’m not worth it.  
Why the fuck do they want me so bad?

He’s out of the parking lot and in the road when the first shot aimed in his direction goes off.

“You’ve got to be kidding me-” He ducks, and then swerves his direction, nearly missing a car that was not going to slow down for him. He needs to go faster. He needs to not get fucking shot. He has no idea where his brothers are, he has no idea where  _he_ is and he has no idea where to go.  
And the shots don’t stop coming.

“You’d think they’d be down bullets-” He says to himself. “Due to the amount they shot into the van-” He’s bitter but nothing can fix that, and once he gets across the street, he changes direction.

There are more people out and about now, and he can hear- or more like hear the absence of- bullets, because it’s much too dangerous to shoot freely into a crowd. Chenle is lucky.

With this chance he wriggles between people and their packages; carts, bags, children even, some in strollers, trying to hide and trying to put distance between those after him. He feels awful. The amount of people he’s put in danger due to gang war-

He only has enough in him for one take down a day and he used it up just minutes ago. He can’t win against four trained gang members anyways.

And at this point he’s feeling the lack of nourishment in his system. His legs want to fall off and his lungs scream. It doesn’t matter how fit the boy is, he’s tired.

He passes any alleyway and glances down it in the breaks within people. It’s littered with garbage, a couple of homeless dudes and a cat even, quite stereo typical. He chooses to avoid this one, but knows he’s going to need to pull off main roads soon.  
Chenle launches himself further in the foreign city.

He turns left and right aimlessly, his only goal losing the girls behind him. After ten minutes, he’s sure he’s done it, and exhausted, he ducks between two buildings.

It’s smaller than an alleyway by a few feet width wise but nonetheless it’s dingy, quiet and a haven from the public eye. Chenle leans against a wall, the surface freezing in the shade. It isn’t particularly sunny today, but the running heated his body too well. He rests his head back, breathing heavily and very slowly he slumps down. He’s made sure he’s ten feet from the entrance of the mini-alley and hidden in shadow so that he won’t draw any attention to himself. His chest heaves and his head throbs with every beat of his heart. He thinks he might pass out, which is only slightly dangerous in a big city.

As he fights his losing battle for consciousness, the only things on his mind are panic, separation and burning in his lungs.  
What are they going to do now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first part of this series was only nine chapters and this one is eight rn and nowhere near done oops I hope you guys don't mind. I wrote the original to just be like a one story thing and to be short and sweet and simple but I guess it's more complex now uh oh- Anyways, thank you for reading like usual, this was wild, they're all in deep shit but that just makes it more interesting, ily please keep reading


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back, I'll update more tomorrow, I'm excited as to where this is all going I hope it's not too boring. Thank you for being here!

“Chenle is a smart kid.” Jaemin, Kun and Taeil stand in a small huddle outside of the van. When the boys made a run for it, they drove into the city until they found themselves down a back alley. There aren’t many people here, just drunks or homeless bums, but nonetheless they made the youngest and injured stay in the van while the three of them got air and tried to flush out their thoughts. “There’s no way he’s still at ‘Don’s if they didn’t catch him.”

“I don’t think that they did, he was never their target in the first place.” Taeil says. “At least the three I spent some time with didn’t touch him.”

“And that last chick couldn’t have nabbed him on her own.” Jaemin reasons. “So he’s safe-”

“Unless the four of them ganged up on him when we left. Or worse, _more_ of them showed up.” Kun spits on the word ‘them’ like it tastes bad, as if every YG member in the city is out to get them.

He’s not exactly wrong.

Jaemin’s fists curl into tight balls that he stuffs in the pockets of his pants. He’s upset that they left at all. If he had been driving-  
He stops his own thought process. He knows the kind of pressure his hyungs are under, and he knows that the blood that was coming out of Taeil at the time was enough for any of them to panic, so he can’t blame them. But he also can’t forgive himself for letting it happen. What if they can’t get him back? What if he gets hurt?

What if he _dies_?

The worst thing about the thought is that it’s practical. It’s something that could happen. Jaemin has gone his whole life understanding pain, but he never thought he’d lose his brothers. Never. That was something he realized hours ago that he wished he hadn’t had to.

Too many times has Jeno’s face haunted him in the last few hours, something that used to bring him a smile as wide as the one he bore. Jaemin bites the inside of his cheek.

“The girls said something disturbing.” Taeil grabs their attention. “We knew we were in trouble with the company, but people are onto us in more depth than we thought.”

“How so?” Kun pushes. Jaemin turns his body to face Taeil straight on, all of his senses focused on what his hyung is saying.

“I don’t know exactly-” Taeil thinks about his words. “It’s like they’ve put up a wanted poster like those shitty old western movies? There’s money involved for bringing us in-” Jaemin scoffs, a mixture of this-is-bullshit and this-is-very-amusing. “More if we’re dead.”

The laugh dies on his lips instantly.

“What?” Jaemin echoes Kun’s thoughts.

“The company will pay more if people can turn in bodies. Our bodies.” Taeil doesn’t know what else to say. “Their plan was to kill me-” He actually struggles to get these words out. “And they got a phone call from who I assumed was the fourth girl-” Jaemin and Kun nod, encouraging him to keep talking. “Stating that you guys were around too. I think their ambition to take us all out caused them to fail.” Kun takes a deep breath.

“We can be glad they did.” Jaemin whispers. Kun places a hand on his shoulder. These last two days have been rough.

  
That’s an understatement.

“Taeil if they had committed to only you, you’d be dead right now.” He goes on. “Then where would we be?”

“I’d like to think if things were going to get really bad I’d have pulled my gun-” Taeil says, but he knows where Jaemin is coming from. “And fine. You’d be fine. Because you guys are the strongest fucking people I know.” Jaemin shakes his head, staring lasers into the concrete. He just wishes his family was together. He wishes they were back in their dorms, that the company never decided to remove them, that things were _okay_. That things were normal.

Wishing gets you nowhere. It’s dumb, it’s weak and it’s bullshit. Jaemin looks up at his brothers.

“We’re getting him back, no?”

“Of course-”

“Then we need to come up with something.” Jaemin pushes away the disdain. The past is the past, they did the deed, they left him behind. Now they have to get him back. That’s on them and them alone.

“We need a plan.” Kun says. “We can’t just run off.” Jaemin nods.

“Should we go back to the restaurant? It’s been over an hour, maybe we could walk to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. We check if he’s there, and if he’s not, we ask around, just to see if people witnessed him run or-” He doesn’t finish his sentence, he simply doesn’t want to. He hates the idea that people might’ve watched Chenle be dragged off or hurt and not have tried to help. He hates it with his entire being.

“That’s nice in theory,” Taeil nods. “Actually nice in practice too but what about Renjun-”

“And yourself.” Kun says to Taeil. He nods towards his abdomen, shirt stained completely red. “As not life threatening as that ugly ass thing-”

“A GSW?”

“-is I think you shouldn’t be doing anything strenuous. Which includes walking long distances.”

“Walking? Really?"

“Do not complain.”

Jaemin tries to ignore how much they seem like a married couple, but Kun states a grave point.

“So just the three of us then?” Jaemin says. “You, Jisung and I?” He looks at Kun with round brown eyes.

“Maybe we should leave Jisung here.” Kun looks at Taeil to see if he supports the idea. “It’s kind of obvious how dangerous it is out there and we shouldn’t take the medic from the injured.” Silence is his response, because Kun is right.

Renjun isn’t doing so hot.

Taeil nods.

“Will you two be okay then? It’s far-”

“We drove a pretty simple route.” Kun says. “And I drove it too, I’ll remember how to get from A to B and back again.” Taeil purses his lips, reluctant to let even more of his family out of his sight.

But this has to happen. And it has to happen soon, or Taeil doesn’t know if they’ll ever see their dongsaeng again.

“We’ll be back in under forty minutes if nothing goes wrong. Approximately twelve minutes there, twelve minutes back here, and some searching in between.” Jaemin nods in agreeance. Taeil nods as well, then seems to remember something.

“Hey-” He retreats back into the vehicle for a moment, returning with some cash in hand. “Eat something.” He says, handing it over. Kun takes it, nodding thankfully. He pulls Taeil into a hug.

“We’ll be back soon with Chenle. Rest,” He pulls back to lock eyes with him. “ _Please_.” Taeil is flustered.

“Of course, Kun.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back ^.^, today was pretty good, I got this writing done and hopefully get a head start on tomorrow's chapter. I hope you enjoy these short bits for now.

Chenle opens his eyes, and then squeezes them shut again immediately. White and red flash behind his eyelids in excruciating pain, the past hours manifesting themselves as one giant headache.

  
Lovely.

  
Memories come rushing back to him, like being at home in the morning yesterday, eating pancakes Doyoung had rushed to put together, then being in the warehouse getting ready to go, then actually going. That was a fun ride.

  
And then the ugly memories come too, like losing Taeyong, like losing all of them, like Renjun’s blood coating the bottom of the van, like Suho’s voice- Seunghyun’s broken face- gunshots. Fear. Hunger. Collapsing in an alley. He’s never felt so- so the _opposite_ of happy. Through anything they’ve had to work through, they all had each other. All eighteen of them.

  
He forces his eyes open through the migraine, knowing he needs to get up. How long was he asleep? He’s thankful for how shitty humanity is; every passerby had left him still. A dusk is beginning to coat the city, like the awkward in between time where the sun begins to set but the streetlights haven’t turned on yet.

  
He pushes himself up the wall again, leaning against it for major support. He shakes feeling back into his limbs, feeling like he could throw up, but nothing would come out, he knows this, so he pushes through the feeling because he knows his body’s threat is void.

  
Chenle doesn’t know where he is, he doesn’t know what time it is, and he doesn’t know where to go next. A good step though would be to exit the alley, and find the name of the street he’s on. He’ll feel better if he knows.

  
So he does, he takes shaky steps forwards, until he’s out in the open. He feels exposed, but his instincts begin to kick in slowly. He’s a member of a powerful association, in fact he’s an _ex_ -member now, which feels cooler to say, and so the kid has some skills. Chenle takes this to heart, he takes his training and his smarts and puts them in his pocket. He’s not as defenseless as he might have thought.

  
The streets are bustling, like a city tends to do, and night hawks and owls roam around, waiting outside of clubs and restaurants. He glances up and down the street, looking for street signs, but knows he’ll have to get closer to an intersection for that. Nimbly, he joins the crowd, and walks with them down the street.

  
A set of large lights that remind him of the ones at home turn red before Chenle makes it to the crosswalk. He scans the tall poles, finding what he’s looking for.

  
**Rosewood Ave**.

  
_Nice_.

  
It doesn’t mean anything to him but with the knowledge comes a certain peace, as if he knows where he is despite the fact that he doesn’t. He’s on Rosewood Avenue.  
He glances around thoughtfully until his eyes land on something he never thought he’d see again.

  
Jeno’s smiling face.

Kun and Jaemin promise they’ll be back quickly, turning away from the van to leave their brothers behind. The two of them walk together back up the alley they drove down frantically. They seem to be behind some sketchy clubs, and drunkards and users litter the ground they walk on. A group of scantily clad females look them up and down, laughing over their cigarettes. Kun places a protective hand on Jaemin’s back, propelling him forward at a higher speed.

  
“Harlets-”

  
“You can’t just assume a woman is a hooker.” Kun keeps his tone hushed.

  
“Oh we’re hookers alright.” One of the ladies with electric blue hair says as they pass by, causing the whole circle to erupt in laughter. It’s maniacal, and Jaemin raises his brows at Kun in an I-told-you-so way. Kun shakes his head and pushes him on.

  
The two of them enter society, and straighten their jackets- Jaemin was going to trade with Taeil before Taeil got shot because less blood covered his, but now his mini gore stains look like droplets in comparison. They aren’t even that noticeable anyways.

  
They walk down the street in the direction they know they drove away from, pretending to look less urgent than they feel. Jaemin looks in windows as they pass by, coffee shops, clothing stores, but something playing on the TV in a Timmie’s catches his attention.

  
He grabs Kun’s wrist- too tightly he’d admit.

  
“Hyung-”

Kun looks at him. What on earth is more important than trying to find Chenle. “Look.” Kun squints through the foggy glass of the storefront. At first, he has no idea what Jaemin wants him to see.

  
But then he does see.

  
“Inside. Now.” Jaemin doesn’t wait to be asked twice, he jerks towards the door, pulling the handle and letting Kun inside. Kun doesn’t take his eyes off the point of interest, and walks towards it slowly like he’s never seen a TV before.

  
But it isn’t about the screen, it’s about what the screen is presenting. A news woman sits in front of what Kun can only assume is a green screen, with all too familiar images plastered all over it digitally. He sees everyone.

  
Everyone.

  
Haechan, Johnny, Taeyong, Doyoung, Yuta, Winwin, Yukhei, Jungwoo, Mark, Ten, Jeno, Jaehyun-

  
Taeil, Jisung, Renjun, Jaemin, Chenle-

  
Himself too.

 **Missing** , it reads.

The woman stares at her hands before making unbreakable eye contact with the camera.

  
“ _A terrible occurrence has been realized here in Oakville_.” She starts. People in the store begin to turn their heads, curious about the eighteen people on every screen in the cafe. “ _A group of eighteen boys have gone missing all at once. Gang violence is suspected. They range in age from 16 to 23_ -”

  
“Kun what the hell is this?” Jaemin hisses, but his hyung shakes his head, too shocked to even process Jaemin’s drop in honorifics.

“ _Their families issued the missing persons statements at different times last night_ ,-”

“What families-”

  
“The company.”

“ _And any information on their whereabouts is greatly appreciated. There is a reward for bringing helpful information to the police_ -”

Kun tears his eyes away from the screen, scanning the room. Everyone’s attention is on the woman, but he knows it’s only a matter of time before they begin to look around.

  
“Oakville is only a few miles from here-” A man says to his friend. “Awful what can happen.”

  
“How can eighteen men go missing at once-”

  
“Drugs are some scary shit-”

  
“Don’t get mixed up with them-”

  
“Reward-?”

  
Kun hears the whispering rumble through the sitters and the standers and the talkers and the workers and he can feel eyes beginning to shift around. He takes Jaemin’s forearm, giving it a squeeze that means they should probably leave, but Kun doesn’t want to. He needs to hear the end of the broadcast.

  
And he wants to stare forever at the pictures. He still remembers the day the company made them all take them. Apart from these pictures, no other pictorial record exists on any of the boys, the company made sure of that. ‘ _For your safety_.’ The heads had said, fat lot they care about their safety now, Kun thinks.

  
Kun never thought that he’d forget what his brothers looked like, but in everything he almost had. He forgot that Taeyong had had black hair before he had red hair, or that Johnny’s eyebrows arched the way they did. He wants to forever be able to look at those pictures, because if he can’t have them in person, that’s the next best thing.

  
Not memories. Memories fade and get distorted. A picture is forever.

  
But Kun doesn’t have these pictures. The news woman has these pictures, the station, and anybody with a phone, but he doesn’t.

  
How fucking unfair is that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now the entire city is looking for them- with good intentions of course, but people don't quite know who they're going to hand them over to do they...


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, I think I'm finally going to be able to wrap this up soon which is exciting because I have a lot of ideas for future stories! Anyways, thank you and enjoy

Chenle doesn’t have time to realize what he’s looking at before a hand closes around his wrist tightly. He whips around, trying to pull away. _Who the hell_ -

  
“You’re that kid-”

  
“What-”

  
He’s face to face with someone he’s never met before, and quite a few other people have their eyes on him. The crowd watches silently.

  
“You’re that kid. You’re one of them.” The guy repeats, blue eyes flashing as if this is obvious and Chenle should know exactly what he’s talking about.

  
“Excuse me?” The guy hasn’t let go of his wrist yet, but he holds his phone in front of his face, forcing Chenle to look at it. He stares right back at himself. “What the-”

  
“Your family has been worried sick.” A woman chimes in. “You’re one of the missing eighteen-”

  
“What happened to you?”

  
“We can get you home-”

  
“It’s not safe for a kid to be alone-”

  
“Did you run away?”

  
Chenle can’t comprehend all the questions or comments, and his personal space is very much invaded by hordes now. What the fuck is happening?

  
The phone is still being dangled in front of his face, and he takes it with his free hand, squinting at the screen. It tells him all he needs to know.

  
And he knows it isn’t good.

  
“I’m okay, really, I’m heading back there myself.” He lies, trying to reassure the man whose hand is wrapped so tightly around his wrist Chenle feels the bones might break. “I’m fine, your concern is appreciated but unnecessary-” He’s trying to shake off the shock of the news article, and the fact that he knows exactly who filed the missing persons cases. He knows if he goes to the police, he’s going to be going home.

  
And home is not safe anymore.

  
“Bullshit,” The man says. “It’s really no trouble, we can help you get to the police.”

  
“Yes, you must be very lost, all the way from Oakville.” A woman adds, a different one than from before.

  
There are at least thirteen people congregated around him. He’s never felt so trapped. He struggles under their eyes and in their grasp.

  
“There’s no need- I’m not lost- I’m fine.” But no one is listening to him. Phones have been whipped out, pictures taken for sure. It runs through Chenle’s mind that these might be the first photos of him to exist outside of company sanctioned shoots. But he doesn’t need to worry about his confidentiality in the same way anymore; he’s very obviously not a part of that company.

  
“The police have been contacted.” Someone says. “They’re on their way and you’ll be home soon.” No one seems to care why he’s missing at all, or why he doesn’t seem to want to be helped.

“Where are the other boys?” Silence actually ripples through the crowd after this question, and everyone is intently listening in just one moment.

Chenle doesn’t want to answer that, and apart from ‘dead’ he actually doesn’t know.

  
“I’m okay, really-”

Which starts up the many many voices again, and no one is listening to him anymore. Chenle’s discomfort is obvious, and his wrist throbs. He knows that if it was one man, he could pull away, hell, he could fight him off. But its many men and women included and Chenle KNOWS he doesn’t have the power. Not today or any day.

  
Cops show up here quickly, unlike the restaurant, and the crowd parts like the red sea for them to access the boy immediately. Chenle shakes his head as they come.

  
“Please- I’m okay- You don't have to do this.” But with the release of his wrist by one man another one takes it. One cop appeases the crowd while the other directs Chenle towards the vehicle, all the while with a strong hand on his shoulder,  _knowing_ the kid doesn’t want to go with him at all. Why? Why, if he knows, does he make him come? Maybe it’s the law, maybe it’s his job, maybe it’s because Chenle is an unaccompanied minor in a big city causing commotion, but regardless of the reason, Chenle finds himself in the back of a cop car, unable to do anything but sit there.

  
He feels like a criminal, and in some ways he is, but not today. Today he committed no crimes and for the reasons he’s heading into the city station now he shouldn’t feel like the bad guy. Maybe it’s just the cop car, or the bars between him and his new cop friends.

  
“You really don’t need to-” Chenle tries to let them know he’s fine without letting them know how terrifying this situation is for him. But he can’t just outright say the company will kill him, or that they’re anything other than his family, or that he’s a gang member and therefore a criminal and so he just has to sit still.

  
Completely shocked.

  
And tired and angry. Chenle is angry. He’s angry that the company is pretending to care by filing missing persons reports at all, because he knows that a caring place is not at all where they’re coming from. They knew if they did this that exactly what’s happened would happen, and that getting entire cities to look for the boys was genius. He hates that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time just because he wanted to know what street he was on.  
He should’ve stayed in the goddamn alleyway.

Kun knows they’ll be recognized instantly.

  
“Jae we need to go-” He pulls on his brother’s arm, and Jaemin snaps to attention. He tears his eyes away from the screen and, with their heads down to hide their faces, the two of them exit the cafe. Kun scans up and down the street, but sees something that makes him stop in his tracks. Jaemin bumps into him.

  
“Hyung what the hell-”

  
Kun is watching a cop march a small boy surrounded by quite a few people into his car two intersections down the road.

  
A kid who looks a hell of a lot like Chenle.

  
Kun hits Jaemin’s arm in response, pointing.

  
“Holy shit-” They start running. There’s really no juice in either of their tanks, but that doesn’t stop them.

  
“Don’t yell-” Kun warns as they go. “We can’t draw attention-” Jaemin nods, but he questions how much more attention they would be able to catch, two wanted boys running down the street; who cares if they yell? They’ll be recognized anyways.

  
They’re too slow, or more likely just too far away, because the car drives off before they’ve even crossed the first street.

  
“No no no no-” Kun drags Jaemin into a sidestreet with him. It’s over. They didn’t make it.

  
“Hyung-”

  
“No-”

  
“Hyung! They’re going to the police station. I’m sure of it. We can find him there-” Jaemin grabs Kun’s shoulders.

  
So close. They were so close.

“Someone is coming to get you.” A large burly officer sits down in front of Chenle in the station. Chenle is seated at one of those interrogation tables you see in the movies, but he isn’t handcuffed or strapped to a chair, which is a bonus in this situation.

  
“Who?” He wants desperately to know who ‘someone’ is.

  
“Your sister, Irene Bae. She’ll be here within the hour.” Irene’s face flashes behind Chenle’s eyes. He shakes his head. What does he say? ‘Yes actually, Irene is not my sister anymore, and she’s a trained assassin who will probably kill me the minute you hand me over.’ Nope. He can’t say that. The officer seems unbothered by Chenle’s current silence.

  
It also occurs to him that Irene must be closer than Chenle thought, geographically of course. She mustn’t have been in SM’s hometown, otherwise she’d take a little under a day to get here. Chenle assumes she’s been deployed on a mission a lot closer to the city, and that’s why she, out of every SM member to exist, was picked to come get him.  
He doesn’t have much against her- apart from her most probable deadly intentions for him- but she’s not who he would pick personally to retrieve something the company wants. At least not quietly.

  
Irene is known for liking the loud things.

  
“You know you worried your family sick.” The officer leans his elbows on the table, looking at Chenle. It’s not like the other stares that have fallen on him today though, it’s gentle, calm, sympathetic. When the people who found him looked at him it was like he was made of meat. “Your sister sounded like hell over the phone.”

  
“I bet she did.”

  
The man laughs. Chenle likes him.

  
“So what happened? How’d you, a kid from Oakville, end up here in Maryland? Alone? What about the other seventeen?” The man means well. Chenle’s eyes flash as he looks at his hands in his lap, curling and uncurling two little fists. He shakes his head. He truly can’t tell him anything.

  
The man’s chocolate skin glints under the lights and his brown eyes stare intently at the boy in front of him.  
“I get it I get it.” Protocol says he needs to get answers, but the city isn’t exactly run by the law anymore, and the officer could honestly care less if he finds out why the kid left home. What he cares about is why he looks so gaunt-

  
And why little bits of blood decorate his dark clothing.

  
Chenle can sense the man’s eyes beginning to take in these details and he shifts in his chair. Despite spending twenty minutes in a McDonald’s’ washroom, Chenle couldn’t fix himself up quite enough. As the hands on the clock move forward, Chenle’s realization does too. If he sits here and waits for Irene to show up, he’s as good as dead.

  
“Can I use the washroom?”

  
“You used it when I brought you in here.”

  
Unfortunately, Chenle had actually had to pee when he came in initially. He supposes he’s used up his washroom passes.

  
He squirms in his chair. Literally dead. He is going to be literally dead in very few minutes. The thought makes his stomach churn.

  
He’d rather not be dead.


	12. Chapter 12

Chenle knows that the company is paying off the police. Otherwise, he’d be being questioned right now. If this were a normal person’s situation, they’d wonder where the other seventeen were, and they wouldn’t exactly allow the person in question to walk away with the first stranger who claims they know them.

But this is not a normal person situation.

Chenle’s officer left the room twenty minutes ago to leave him completely alone, staring at the steel table. He wants to disappear. He wants to fall away, to run as far as he needs to go to get somewhere safe. Somewhere where every single one of his brothers are safe. He links and un-links his fingers together. He needs to think of something.  
He bites his tongue, then his lip, legs needing to be stretched. He stands shakily, very close to passing out. Adrenaline pushes him forwards, but only barely.

He thinks back to the few seconds before the people began to surround him in the street. He had seen Jeno. He had thought he had. But he had caught the image of a television in some storefront. The very first thing he was drawn to was the smile.

Chenle walks the perimeter of the room- it’s not like he’s a prisoner, he doesn’t have to sit still does he? So when the door opens again and he’s out of his chair he’s hardly surprised, turning to look the officer in the face.

Except his officer with lovely dark skin and kind eyes beneath bushy eyebrows is not alone. Not in the slightest.

A thin, sharp woman less than twice his size but probably four times as deadly stands beside him. Her lips press into a thin smile as Chenle tries to decide whether his heart beat stopped or sped up beyond distinction. The vile look only lasts for two undetectable seconds before she begins what she does best;  
Complete her job.

-

Jaemin and Kun are back in their alleyway immediately, running towards the van. Jaemin throws open the back and Kun jumps in the front. Taeil starts, holding back a confused yell. Renjun wakes up from his restless sleep and Jisung tries to calm him, but the jolting reopened his wounds once again.

“Fuck Kun what’s happening-”

“No time, hyung-” Kun starts the engine, ripping out of the alley. He’s not even trying to be discrete. Lucky for him, this particular street isn’t busy, and he hits no one in the process.

Taeil looks at Jaemin with wide eyes and Jaemin takes the liberty of explaining while Kun books it.

“The police have Chenle.”

“Why would they have Chenle-” Right. Taeil doesn’t know.

“Our company put out a reward to find us, a missing persons case to be more exact- People must’ve turned him in- we saw it happen but were too far away to make it in time.”

“But he’s going to be at the police station. That’s where they’d take him right? SM couldn’t know we were in this particular city so no one should be ready to get him right away right? We have time?” Kun runs these questions so desperately, even though he’s the one with the plan. He should be assuring everyone else that this is how it’s going to work and that this will turn out and they’ll have Chenle back soon.

But Taeil agrees. He jumps at the chance.  
“Yes yes of course Kun, drive. You know where the station is?”

“Middle of town I’m assuming. Look for signs.” The three of them, Jisung, Jaemin, and Taeil very illegally stand and crowd the front two chairs, staring intently out the windows.

  
“Left-” Jaemin directs when he sees the first sign. “Left. Right.”

-

“Chenle!” She runs towards him, which is shocking, and pulls him into a hug so tight he thinks his lungs might collapse. He tenses up, frozen, not knowing what he should do. He is  _literall_ _y_ in the arms of his demise. She’s acting. Over her shoulder, he locks eyes with the officer’s, who looks on them kindly. _No. No_. He tries to say, but the man doesn’t get it. Chenle’s arms hang limply at his side. “We didn’t know where you were-” She cries, loud enough for the officer to hear. But much lower, she hisses into his neck, sending vibrations down his whole spine. “ _Whatever_ you did, you shouldn't have done it. It’s such a waste.” She pulls away, two hands gripping his shoulders. “You know why I’m here right.” She says to his face. He clenches his jaw.  
He nods.

-

“Here here here right here-” Kun pulls into the parking lot. They made it, they actually made it.

Only a few cars litter the lot, about six, in total, but the boys miss one that could’ve set off so many red flags.

There’s nothing inconspicuous about the colour of the little blue toyota, or even about the beads on the seat or the fuzzy dice on the mirror. Interiors of the cars people like them drive change all the time. It’s the license plate they miss.

Always look at the license plate.

In the company, kids are trained and beaten until they’ve memorized every plate the company owns. You have no excuse to get in a car without one, no excuse to miss one, no excuse to crash one, not if the letters and numbers are burned into your memory.

Had any of them looked, they would have seen it. They would have seen JHDA 936 and known. Maybe it was the circumstance, maybe it was the darkness of night that had ascended and hindered their vision. Had they seen it;

They would’ve known how much danger they were in.

Taeil, Kun and Jaemin shove a gun each into their waistbands.

“We shouldn’t need them. We’re here for Chenle and Chenle only-”

“Of course.”

Irene is not alone. When she walks Chenle out of the room, Chenle’s mind still racing, they greet someone Chenle has been dreading to see. Oh Sehun pulls him into his arms.

  
Chenle thinks it’s because the guard is watching, but if Sehun were being honest, the watching guard only prompted him to do something he already wanted to do. This is his sorry. His coming to terms with crimes he’s about to commit.

To the officer it looks like Chenle just ran away from home, and his sister and someone who might be her boyfriend or brother have come to take the kid back. Back to safety. Back to their normal life. It’s always boggled the man’s mind how everyone leads a life completely different than everyone else's. Someone goes home to different loved ones, some people don’t go home at all.

He’s glad these people have reunited. As upset as the kid looks, the officer knows he’ll be happy when he’s home. Teenage rebellion and all doesn’t take in the fact that life without family isn’t life at all.

He misses all the signals.

The shifting eyes, the hands locked around small wrists, a strong hand ‘guiding’ Chenle’s back. Everything. He misses the silent pleading, the fact that the kid doesn’t start walking till he’s shoved, or that when the three of them exit the front door- immediately he’s dragged to the right, out of sight.

Sehun’s grip only gets tighter as the door closes shut behind them and they’re thrown into the night, and before Chenle knows what’s happening, he’s being dragged down the stairs of the building, then beside it, then behind it, until Sehun shoves him to the ground on the concrete behind the station. He cries out in pain, left wrist snapping when it breaks his fall on the pavement.

He has no fight left. Absolutely nothing. No food in his body, no will in his heart. He’s given up. He’s been running for what feels like forever from people he thought loved him. Chenle is defeated.

“We can’t do this somewhere else?” Irene questions smoothly, folding her arms across her chest. She puts her weight on one leg, eyes grazing Chenle’s being, breathing hard on the ground. She acts like this is her everyday- which technically it is, but usually it has a different face.

“The longer they’re alive the easier it is for them to slip through our fingers.” Sehun keeps the volume of his voice low, as if to protect Chenle, but the kid can still hear him. He chokes down something, a cry of pain? Anguish? Fear? He shouldn’t be scared. He’s accepted this.

It’s terrifying how the body only knows survival, no? Chenle can tell himself he’s finished a hundred times, that it’s okay, that he can let go, but his body won’t listen. It won’t relax. No matter what he thinks, or what he says he needs to feel, his body knows adrenaline. His body knows shaking, and pain, and fear.

No amount of quiet soothing can take away the shaking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost done loves, thank you for reading <3 Comments and kudos are always appreciated!


	13. Chapter 13

Taeil is the first to see out of the front window.

He sees Sehun, followed by Chenle, followed by Irene. The sight of his company mates makes him sick. Were they not just buying drinks for each other a week ago? How quickly something like family can turn.

“They beat us-”

“What?”

“They beat us.” He takes his gun right back out of his waistband. “We have to go NOW-” The others see what he means. They watch Chenle try his best not to trip down the stairs as the older two take control. They watch him disappear, struggling, behind the building.

“Fucking police-” The protectors of the city can’t see anything. When do they ever? When have they ever helped people who really need to be helped? They just let a sixteen year old walk away with murderers.

Jaemin throws the back door open.

“Go go go-” The three of them jump out of the back. Kun turns around to shut the door.

“Ji- hey- Jisung,” Jisung looks him in the eyes, fear for his brother swamping his vision. “It’s going to be okay. Keep Renjun safe, ya? We’ll all be together again soon.” Jisung nods. He nods because Kun’s eyes are so bright, so hopeful. Kun smiles, closing the door between them for the last time.

The two others are way ahead of him but he catches up quickly. Taeil signals for them to be quiet, and together they shuffle, guns drawn, around the side of the building. Thank God for the darkness.

“We’re sorry kiddo.”

Sehun’s words send cold down Kun’s spine, making his legs shake. Still, Taeil doesn’t let them move forward, but they’re in a position where they can see- somewhat- what’s happening. In the din, Kun can make out Irene, standing with her gun in hand. He can see Sehun, crouched over something so dwarfed by his size that it’s hard to believe it’s a person. Chenle looks up at Sehun, waiting. Just waiting.

What Kun can’t see is the knife Sehun holds. None of them can.  
They’re expecting loud, flashy guns, with bangs and a spark and cocking and loading. They didn’t know they had absolutely no chance.

-

Chenle can feel Sehun hesitating, and maybe he should’ve taken that opportunity.

“Hyung-” He tries.

“Don’t.” Sehun presses the blade to his throat, forcing him to like back completely flat on the freezing ground. Chenle’s breath has quickened, like it does when a person is petrified. “Please-”

“Business, Oh.” Irene pushes. She can’t believe he’s letting emotions get in the way of what the company has asked him to do. If she had come alone, the kid would be a corpse by now, the heads would be happy and she’d be on her way.

Chenle swallows and Sehun seems to snap. He covers the kid’s mouth with a hand, feeling his chest rise and fall beneath him. He takes in a deep breath.  
It’s only now that Jaemin realizes what’s happening.

“Wait!” But it’s too late, not that they would’ve stopped. Sehun’s blade is hilt deep in Chenle’s abdomen.

Chenle really only has one thought in this moment as his lungs struggle to suck in air;  
I tried so hard to get the blood off this jacket.

The three boys reveal themselves in a flurry of attack, but they’re too late.

They were right there. They could’ve saved him.

Irene acts immediately. Her aim is impeccable, and in milliseconds, Jaemin is a heap of deadweight in Kun’s arms.

“ _No no no no_ -”

The sound to escape Taeil’s throat is the most heartbreaking thing to have ever been heard by human ears. It’s terror, it’s anguish, it’s anger, it’s loss.

  
He said he’d protect these kids. He said nothing would touch them.

  
It’s years of memories, it’s thirteenth birthdays, it’s first roller coasters, it’s first gun ranges and paintball games. It’s the lives of every member he’s seen go down. All sixteen.

  
It’s Jeno smile. It’s Johnny’s eyes. It’s Doyoung’s cooking.

  
Haechan’s mischief.

  
Chenle’s laugh.

  
Mark’s mind.

  
Everything.

  
Taeyong’s hug and Yuta’s sarcasm.

  
And then it’s nothing at all.

Sehun is on top of him, having thrown him against the wall. The police station, the place of help and refuge, makes it impossible for Taeil to move. Chenle’s blood mixes with his own as Taeil meets the very same fate.

From the ground, his life bleeding between the fingers pressed against his stomach, Chenle can see everything happen. In the darkness he can see the light go out in Jaemin’s eyes, he can see the life leave Taeil’s limbs. He sees Kun pull the trigger a hundred times over.

He sees his knees meet the ground.

Chenle coughs, convulsing, but the pain begins to fade. Slowly, he loses feeling. He isn’t hungry. He isn’t hurting. All he is is tired.

So tired.

 _You can let go now. Rest. It’s over_.

He clings to sweet silence as his eyes close.

-

Jisung can hear gunshots and he strokes Renjun’s hair with more urgency.

“I’m sure that’s them.” He whispers, pressed close. “I’m sure they’re winning.” He waits until the shooting is over. It’s just dead silence now.  
Renjun shifts, struggling for breath.

“Of course, Ji.” But he’s falling back out of consciousness. Jisung’s breath shakes as he feels him shudder against him. He bites his tongue.

 _Quickly. Come back quickly hyungs_.

Jisung feels awful. Jisung was the medic, but no amount of training could prepare him for Renjun’s condition, and the limited supplies he has couldn’t help him if he had. Instead, all he can do is hold his brother and hopes he wakes up again.

It’s still silent, and the silence begins to scare him more than the gunshots did.

The silence is so much louder.

Jisung can’t take it. He pulls away from Renjun, and stands up to look out the window. In the darkness he can’t make out much, but he can see figures emerging from behind the station.

“Taeil-hyung-” But the words fall flat off his tongue. It’s two people. One’s a woman.

It is not his brothers walking towards them.

Dread trickles down his back like cold sweat and realization dawns on him like waves on a beach. They were not successful.

His hyungs are not coming back for them.

Jisung whips around. They have about forty five seconds tops until Irene and Sehun are on top of the vehicle.

He jumps over the middle console. 

He knows his family is dead, but he can still save Renjun. He turns the key in the ignition.

Nothing. Again.

Nothing. The battery is dead. There's no escaping.

Realization drips down his spine slowly and icy fear takes his bones. 

He climbs back over.

“Renjun-” He kneels beside his brother. “Renjun I need to ask you something-” He’s unresponsive. “Hyung please-” Jisung is on the verge of tears. “Hyung-” He can almost hear their boots crunching on the gravel, whether that’s paranoia or the truth Jisung can’t tell which. “Hyung-” He looks around the van, spotting his target. A handgun on the floor. “Hyung-” He keeps trying as he picks it up, but he knows that a coherent response is not in his immediate future. “Hyung I need to do something.” The tears begin to roll down his cheeks slowly. He doesn’t want to cry. Jisung isn’t a crier.

He knows that if he waits fifteen more seconds Irene will throw open the doors. She’ll come inside.

She’ll make it hurt.

Jisung swallows air, trying to steady his breathing.

“Hyung I need to do something. I need you to forgive me for it- Can you do that for me? Hyung?” He’s sure they’re so close now. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

For Renjun.

For himself.

For his brothers.

He will not let the company win.

He will not let them take his life.

Jisung squeezes right up against Renjun again, pulling him as close as possible, gun still in hand.

Right outside. They’re right outside.

He brings the barrel right up to Renjun’s dark hair.

“I’m sorry- I’m sorry-”  
The hardest thing he’s ever done, in his whole entire life, happens just moments before his death.

He pulls the trigger.  
He kills his friend.

He screams when it goes off. He doesn’t know what else to do. But he did it so Irene couldn’t. He did it so she couldn’t have the satisfaction. He did it so they didn’t torture his brother. He did it so that it was quick. Painless.

He thinks of Johnny. If Johnny had known Jisung would die now, maybe he wouldn’t have had to shield him. Maybe Johnny could be alive.  
What a waste. A waste.

He pulls the weapon to his own head. He thinks about everything he’s seen in the last two days. This doesn’t seem so bad.  
He remembers Kun’s words just minutes ago;  
We’ll all be together soon.

Jisung pulls the trigger.

When Sehun throws the back door open Irene already knows what they’ll find; they heard the shots go off.

“Unfortunate.” She says in a tone that suggests it’s not. Sehun can’t look at the gore. How his sister is so detached he’ll never understand.  
She pulls out her cell, dials a number, and turns to lean against the car. Someone picks up on the other end.

“It is finished.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the end, who really won?


	14. Epilogue

Dinner is pretty much over when everyone is shocked into silence.

“A knock?” Yuta says, an amused smile spreading across his lips. 

“Another one?”

“How popular are you Do?” Everyone laughs as Doyoung stands up.

“I can get it-” Jaehyun offers. 

“You got it last time.” Doyoung waves for him to sit down. “I’m fine.” The boys talk quietly, waiting for the newcomers. Doyoung half runs half jogs down the hallway. It’s rude to keep guests waiting. 

He grasps the handle, twists it, pulls on it. The door opens.

“Doyoung hyung?” Chenle stands at the front of a group of six. They’re dazed, and Doyoung’s heart leaps in his chest. 

“You did it!” He says.

“Did what?” Jaemin asks.

“You came.” 

“That’s nothing special.”

“It’s everything to me.” He leads them in, Kun, Taeil, Renjun, Chenle, Jisung, Jaemin, all of them. The table erupts in shouts of excitement.  
Lucas is the loudest. 

“Sit sit sit!”

“We’ve been waiting for hours-”

“Took you lot long enough-”

And from Jeno the widest smile any of them has ever seen graces the room. The remaining boys sit, enveloped in the atmosphere of it all. Just like the others, their confusion and fogginess fades with time. They talk for hours, relishing the presence of each other.

Everyone is happy. Everyone is safe. Everyone is as they should be.

Taeyong looks at his family. 

Not a soul is missing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for making it all the way here, I had so much fun writing this, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Really really really thank you <3333

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! All of the comments and love has been so inspiring and I'd love to keep writing for you, thank you for being here, I hope you enjoyed, and I sincerely apologize if it sucked. <3 Ciao loves


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